EAST LANSING, MI- Health officials say one out of every 3 adults will suffer from hypertension at some point in their lives.

Also known as high blood pressure, it affects more men than woman.

High blood pressure is known as the silent killer.

“I was getting my teeth cleaned” Andy Mitchell of Lansing said.

A trip to the dentist turned into a life changing event.

Andy Mitchell was just 28 years old, when he found out he had high blood pressure. So high, he had to go to the doctor the next day, and he was put on medication for a few year.

“It was sort of a surprise to me, but when I started to do more research I found out it was hereditary and so my dad has hypertension as well” Mitchell said.

Mitchell was an athlete all his life, but he is one of the 70 million American’s who have high blood pressure.

David Woltmann is a nephrologist, who works with patients with hypertension.

According to Woltmann, symptoms are rarely obvious.

” It’s called the silent killer for a reason, it, a lot, of people walk around, with high blood pressure they just don’t know it” Dr. David Woltmann D.O said

MSU researcher Dr. Gregory Fink says even though there isn’t a specific cause, 50 to 60% of people who are overweight have hypertension. “It’s not fat in general, it’s that specific local of fat” Fink said.

Fink has studied the correlation between body fat and high blood pressure for years, he said overall body fat is not related to high blood pressure, but belly fat is.

Dr.Fink said blood vessels work hard to pump blood to some of the most important organs in the body, and belly fat skew those signals.

“Fat is a very active tissue one of the things it does is it makes chemicals or messengers, that it sends out and it tells other parts of the body what to do” Fink said.

The best way to combat the silent killer, and stomach fat is by working out, a lifestyle change Andy Mitchell knows well.

His blood pressure is now under control, and as a father who wants to live a long life, he gives one last piece of advice.

“Check it out… as often as you can….” Mitchell said.

Michigan State University received a $7 million grant from the National Institute of Health, to continue this research. Dr. Fink tells me he hopes to create a drug that will disconnect obesity from high blood pressure.

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